Wandering Back to Shannon

Today was our last day in Killarney before wandering up north a bit toward Shannon Airport. We are currently staying close to the airport in order to get there in the morning without driving the two hours from Killarney... We started the morning at a part of Killarney National Park that we did not get to at the end of our Ring of Kerry drive: Torc Waterfall. It was stunning! The forest and paths around it were beautiful as well...

We hiked up this steep path and I'm really glad we did because we were met with this wonderful view of the Lakes of Killarney...

Then it was back down the stairs again and on with our day...

After a stop at the Kerry Woolen Mills, we left the Killarney area and went north. One thing I have to say about driving in Ireland is that everything is incredibly well marked. Maybe back in the day the roads of Ireland were in bad shape and unmarked (and probably some sections in the boondocks are still like that) but navigating around here has been quite easy. Along the way to Shannon, we stopped for lunch and a little strolling around Adare. Here is Chris at the Adare Heritage Center trying out a bow...

We also saw this picture of a pack of hound dogs, sitting quietly and seemingly listening to their humans. Hmmm, who knew that was possible?

As we wandered through town we saw what we thought was a castle but turned out to be an abbey--still beautiful! The actual castle of Adare (built around 1200) was down the road and we saw the ruins as we drove out of town. Unfortunately it was not open for touring...

We continued on and found ourselves in the amusingly-named town of Bunratty where we went to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. What a great stop this was! The castle was really cool (we went all the way to the top) and the Folk Village was lovely. The boys especially enjoyed seeing examples of thatch-roof houses and an early 20th century Irish town. Bunratty Castle turned out to be not far at all from the Cragganowen Project, where we visited this past summer...

Also a nice thing to see here were signs of spring--flowers coming up! Apparently spring starts in February here. Great to know since in Kansas, the boys would have had another snow day today (my phone buzzed at 4am Irish time to let me know school was closed). Do we have to go back? It's been a great trip and we are at the hotel close to the airport ready (maybe) to travel back to New York tomorrow.